Mother of Eight Planned Suicide Terror Attack in Israel

Two women from Gaza - a pregnant mother of 8, and her niece, a mother of 4 - planned a joint two-pronged suicide attack in Tel Aviv and Netanya.

Contact Editor

Hillel Fendel, 13/06/07 18:47

Two women from Gaza - a pregnant mother of eight, and her niece, a mother of four - planned a joint two-pronged suicide attack in Tel Aviv and Netanya. They have been arrested.

The General Security Service (GSS) has released for publication that the two women were arrested 24 days ago as they left Gaza for the double attack. Precise intelligence information led to the thwarting of the planned mass murders.

The GSS says that the two women "took advantage of Israel's humanitarian policies, receiving a fraudulent medical permit to enter Israel."

One of the women, Fatma Hassan Zeck, 39, is the mother of eight children and is pregnant with her ninth. She worked in the Islamic Jihad employment office for women in Gaza, and was in regular contact with terrorist elements. She served as a coordinator between the Islamic Jihad terror outfit and women who wished to commit suicide attacks against Israel.

Three months ago, her niece Roda Ibrahim Habib, a mother of four, turned to her, and the two of them decided to commit a joint suicide attack. Zeck made contact with Islamic Jihad handlers, and the preparations began.

The two mothers took along some of their young children to the meetings with their terrorist handlers, at which was discussed precisely how the women would blow themselves up. The 19-year-old son of the older woman, an Islamic Jihad terrorist himself, was present at the traditional picture-taking ceremony, at which the women were photographed holding a Koran and a rifle.

The plan was for them to blow themselves up simultaneously in an area crowded with soldiers or civilians in Tel Aviv and Netanya. They were trained in activating explosives-laden vests, and Zeck was also trained in using a Kalachnikov rifle.

The problem of actually getting into Israel was solved as follows: Islamic Jihad was able to obtain a forged medical permit indicating that Habib required an urgent medical check in Ramallah, to which Zeck was to be her escort. Once in Ramallah, they were to go to the hospital and actually have the test done, to avoid suspicion, and then they were to be taken to the intended target locations.

They set out from northern Gaza on May 20 for their mission, but were arrested at the Erez Crossing into Israel.

Israel is often castigated by left-wing organizations that complain that Arabs from the PA are sometimes forced to wait at checkpoints for security checks, and are allegedly denied medical care. The GSS, however, notes that the case at hand is only one of many in which Arabs attempt to take advantage of Israel's humanitarian policies in order to murder Israelis.